Contacts Tutorial
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This tutorial is designed to demonstrate how to exercise the most control over (and generate the best quality with) setting a contact photo on the Palm Pre. Unfortuantely, there was very little information about how the Pre handled contact photos and many people were disappointed with the blurry, low-resolution photos on their Pre. However, after experimenting a little, I think I've figured out the best way to control your contact photo.
In summary, the Pre appears to default to a low or high resolution contact mode.
The trick is a 320 pixel width; the same as the Pre's horizontal resolution. Any photo below this threshold will force the Pre to resample the photo into its low resolution mode. Photos above this threshold will default to the high-resolution mode, but require the user to crop the photo.
This tutorial assumes access to a general image editing software. For this I used GIMP, a high quality open-source/freeware program. ( GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program ) Before proceeding with the tutorial, one should be comfortable with cropping and resizing(scaling). This tutorial also assumes access to and familiarity with connecting your Palm to your PC via USB.
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Step 1: Preparation
You'll want to identify a contact and a suitable photo. For reasons explained below, you'll
a) want to select a photo with a high enough resolution for you to get at minimum a clean 320x320 pixel crop (personally, I prefer cropping an even higher resolution, and then downscaling for the best quality); and
b) want to ensure that there is a margin of space around the head of the contact subject.
Here, I'll be setting up a contact for my good friend, Shia LeBeouf (
exhibit A), and I've decided upon this photo of him and Megan Fox.
Exhibit B.
exhibit A:
exhibit B:
Note: smaller size than actually used. Credit, The Superficial
Step 2: Crop and Resize/Scale
You'll want to crop a clean square of your subject (set your crop tool to a 1:1 ratio to help). The square should be 320x320 or greater, the subject's head should be roughly centered, and there should be a reasonable amount of space around the subject's head (
exhibit D). We will soon see why. If your crop is greater than 320x320, downscale to that size after cropping.
Exhibit C. This is also the time to do any touching up, levels, etc. to your photo. Be sure to save in a compatible image format, JPEG is best.
exhibit C:
exhibit D:
Step 3: File Transfer
Connect your Pre to your PC via USB, and select the "USB Drive" option. Open the Pre in explorer and either copy your contact photo into the "downloads" folder, or feel free to make a new folder "contacts" or what have you. Here, my folder will be called "Tutorial." Safely disconnect the Pre using "Safely Remove Hardware", and then disconnect the Pre from the USB cable; the Pre will shortly return to WebOS.
Alternatively (if you cannot sync your Pre with your PC), you can email yourself the contact photo, and then download it to your Pre. The photo will be in the "downloads" folder.
Step 4: Assign Photo to Contact
Launch the "Photos" App.
Exhibit E. Find the folder where your contact photo resides; here Shia is in "Tutorial." Bring up the contact photo.
Exhibit F. Tap the upper-left corner of the screen to bring up the photo options menu, and select "Assign to contact."
Exhibit G. If the contact photo is perfectly 320x320, the photo should fit in the framing/crop window perfectly. Tap "Set to Contact."
Exhibit H. Again if the contact photo is 320x320, the Pre will respond with "Contact picture set." If the photo's width is less than 320 pixels, the Pre will respond with "Assign to contact failed."
Exhibits I and J.
exhibit F:
exhibit G:
exhibit H:
exhibits I and J:
Step 5: Confirm Contact Photo Addition
Give your contact a quick call to confirm that their photo was assigned correctly. The phone app should display the photo in a large and high-resolution format. Do note that the phone app does cut off a part of the square photo. The exposed area is roughly 220 x 320 pixels. The crop isn't vertically symmetrical, it roughly 35 pixels tall at the top, and 65 pixels at the bottom.
Exhibits K and L. If you got a notification that your "Assign to contact failed" because your photo was below 320 pixels wide, the photo will appear like
exhibit M.
exhibits K and L:
exhibit M: